Night lay like thick ink in an inkstone, washing the courtyard of the Spirit Hall Branch in Heaven Dou City in silence.
Only in Qian Daoliu's room did brilliant golden light strain to break through the window lattice, tearing a long, narrow slit in the room's ink-dark canopy like the first keen ray before dawn.
He sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, a perfectly rounded golden soul ring floating before him-the God-given Soul Ring he had obtained from the lucky draw.
The soul ring had no fixed form. Flowing rosy light shimmered along its edges, while the energy within was gentle yet immense, able to adjust its strength to the absorber's constitution. It pulsed faintly like a living thing.
Suddenly, the golden soul ring shuddered violently and became a golden stream that shot straight toward the phantom Chaos Bell behind him.
The patterns of the four elements-earth, water, fire, and wind-instantly lit up on the ancient bell. The instant they collided with the golden stream, violent energy fluctuations nearly tore off the roof, leaving even the air buzzing.
Qian Daoliu felt a scorching force surge down his spine into his dantian. Needle-sharp pain stabbed through every meridian it passed-his body had yet to heal, and its limits were far below those of his prime. The impact of the high-level soul ring nearly ripped his flesh apart.
"Nine-Yang Divine Skill, circulate!"
Qian Daoliu clenched his teeth, veins bulging at his temples. The violet mist in his dantian rose like a blazing sun, clashing and intertwining with the energy from the Chaos Bell before merging with it.
Under the repeated scouring of those two forces, his meridians grew visibly tougher, like refined steel tempered in fierce flames.
I'm almost at my body's limit...
The soul ring around the Chaos Bell instantly changed from black to crimson, deepening from pale red to dark red. Then orange-gold began to spread through the dark red, finally settling into a dazzling orange-red-a color beyond that of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!
One hundred and ninety thousand years... is that all I can withstand for now?
Qian Daoliu's vision began to blur. He could clearly feel the soul ring's energy continuing to rise, but forcing himself to absorb more would likely damage his very foundation.
"That's enough!"
As though he had reached a critical threshold, he abruptly raised his hands and formed a seal, forcibly cutting off the transfer of energy.
The God-given Soul Ring's light gradually dimmed until it finally merged completely into the Chaos Bell.
The orange-red on the bell stabilized. Its pressure, surpassing that of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, withdrew like a deep abyss, yet seemed to slow the flow of time throughout the room by half a beat.
Qian Daoliu fell backward onto the meditation cushion, gasping for breath, his entire body drenched in cold sweat.
Just then, the system's notification rang out in his mind:
[Congratulations to the host for successfully adding a soul ring to your second martial soul: Chaos Bell. Reward: the age of all soul rings increases by ten thousand years!]
The instant the notification ended, a gentle wave of energy swept through his entire body, wiping away all his exhaustion.
Excitement flashed in Qian Daoliu's eyes-all his soul rings had gained ten thousand years. Then the first soul ring he had just added to the Chaos Bell...
He exhaled a breath of stale air and gathered a wisp of soul power in his palm. The small Chaos Bell chimed softly in response.
An orange-gold soul ring appeared on the bell, bearing two golden markings. With the system's enhancement, its age had soared to two hundred thousand years, transforming into a brilliant orange-gold ring that slowly revolved around the bell like flowing magma.
At last, he had unlocked the Chaos Bell's first skill, which also came with a trace of a "time-slowing" effect.
The patterns on the bell grew clearer, with faint phantoms of mountains, rivers, the earth, the sun, the moon, and the stars swirling within them.
The fluctuations of its first soul skill, Chaos Sound, echoed through the room, sending ripples through even the air.
Then Qian Daoliu called up the system panel. His gaze fell on the progress of the Chaos Bell's seal, and the excitement immediately faded from his face:
[Second martial soul]: Chaos Bell (seal unlocked: 6%)
"A two-hundred-thousand-year soul ring only advanced it by 1%?"
Qian Daoliu rubbed his temples and shook his head helplessly.
"At this rate, even gathering nine Million-Year Soul Rings might not fully unlock it... soul rings of a hundred thousand years or less probably wouldn't budge it at all."
Despite his frustration, the surging power within the Chaos Bell still left him satisfied as he rose to his feet.
Outside the window, the sky had turned fish-belly white. The morning star shone especially brightly on the horizon, lending a little more light to his eyes.
He pushed open the door, and the morning sunlight spilled over him, making him feel as though he had shed his old body and been reborn. His soul power circulated several times more smoothly than before, the Nine-Yang Divine Skill's violet mist faintly resonated with the Chaos Bell's energy, and even the spiritual power he had expended suppressing the evil energy in Xiao Wu's Mother had fully recovered.
In the rear courtyard of the Spirit Temple, Guang Ling and Jiang Mo were sparring.
Guang Ling's ice arrow was about to strike Jiang Mo's shoulder, only for Jiang Mo to lightly flick it aside with his Coiling Dragon Staff. Staff shadows wove a dense net, forcing Guang Ling to retreat again and again.
"Stop."
Qian Daoliu's voice came from the edge of the training ground. Both immediately withdrew their attacks and turned to bow.
Qian Daoliu approached and handed each of them a beast-hide scroll. "Take these two manuals and cultivate them."
With a wave of his hand, two streaks of golden light shot toward Guang Ling and Jiang Mo. The light transformed into two small, ancient-looking booklets in their hands, their covers bearing the titles "Ice Art" and "Thousand Jun Staff Art," respectively.
"This is..."
Guang Ling picked up the Ice Art and flipped through a few pages. His pupils abruptly contracted.
The cultivation method recorded in the booklet was exquisitely sophisticated, specifically strengthening the weaknesses of ice-type martial souls. Its precise control over the circulation of soul power, in particular, far surpassed anything he had learned before.
Jiang Mo's scroll bore the title "Thousand Jun Staff Art." Its opening words read, "Strength rises from the earth, the staff follows the heart; one force shatters ten thousand arts." Its moves were fierce and domineering, perfectly compensating for his staff technique's excess of strength and lack of finesse.
"Big Brother, this..."
Guang Ling's eyes were filled with shock. A cultivation method of this caliber was anything but ordinary.
Qian Daoliu said lightly:
"They're scraps the Angel God occasionally passed down. They might be useful to you."
He deliberately made it sound trivial. Nothing could have been more convenient than using the Angel God as an excuse.
Yet he failed to notice the shocked glance the two exchanged-even scraps of cultivation methods passed down by the Angel God would be enough to drive the entire Soul Master World mad.
"Thank you, Big Brother!"
They spoke in unison, carefully putting the scrolls into their Space Rings. Their gazes toward Qian Daoliu grew even more reverent.
"Oh, and your Thousand Jun Staff Art was created by an Elder Spirit Monkey, said to have once wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Realm."
Qian Daoliu added.
"What?!"
Jiang Mo's eyes widened, disbelief written all over his face-that was a staff art left behind by a being who had wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Realm.
Leaving aside Jiang Mo's reaction as he showed off to Guang Ling, Qian Daoliu turned to Golden Crocodile beside him and said:
"Come with me to the study."
Inside the study, Qian Daoliu took a yellowed blueprint from his Space Ring and slowly spread it out.
The blueprint depicted a complex metal structure, densely annotated with runes and measurements. In one corner were the words "Level 9 Soul Tool Blueprint: Soul-Gathering Array Disk."
"What... is this? It looks like something a blacksmith would make, but I've never seen such a complex structure."
Golden Crocodile asked in confusion.
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